Mason love canal

Toxic and Hazardous Waste: Love Canal Disaster

Kate Mason

Geol 108

Nicholas Klein

What is Toxic Waste?

• As defined in Environmental Science: A Global Concern, “A hazardous waste is any discarded material, liquid or solid, that contains substances known to be (1) fatal to humans or laboratory animals in low doses, (2) toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, or teratogenic to humans or other life forms, (3) ignitable with a flash point less than 60 degrees Celsius, (4) corrosive, or (5) explosive or highly reactive.”

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Image source:http://defenseoftherepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/toxic-waste.jpg

Catch 22

• Toxic waste is almost always a byproduct of some extremely useful production process

• For example, plastic production, dry cleaners, automobile repair shops, hospitals, exterminators, and photo processing centers all generate hazardous waste.



Image source:www.faeriecara.com/.../1224107614Plastics.jpg



Image source:http://www.mpu.agric.za/SOER/Mpumalanga%20Publikit%20Web%20Version%20SoER%20%282003%29/Graphics/mpumalanga/GraphsAndStats/total_volume_and_type_of_hazardous_waste_%28dwaf__1998%29.jpg

What happens when hazardous waste enters a community?

• Is it visible?• Does it smell?• Does it damage structures?• Can it be harmful to residents?

Let’s take a look at what happened at Love Canal…

Love Canal neighborhood Niagara Falls, New York

• 1890s• William T. Love• Canal to provide cheap

power to dream community

• 1910 Tesla foils plansQuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor




Image source: NY Times PDFhttp://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D04E6DA1031E033A25752C3A9639C94629ED7CF

Model Community > Dump Site

• 1942- Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation (later, Occidental Chemical Corporation) dumped over 21,000 tons of chemical waste into Love Canal.



Image source:http://www.pacificspirit.org/news/uploaded_images/ave_of_barrels-732435.jpg

10 years later….

• Hooker Chemical Company covered the canal with dirt and sold it to the city for

$1 !!!!!!!!• After this, homes and

schools were built



Image source:http://www.istl.org/00-spring/article2.html

What happened next:

• In the 1970s heavy rainfall caused groundwater, mixed with chemical waste, to rise and flood the basements of many residential homes



Image source:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20090418/climate-legislation/images/fabcd954-515d-4620-bd93-c41211831fee.jpg



Image and description source:http://abcnews.go.com/US/popup?id=5548326&contentIndex=1&start=false&page=12

“Mark Zanatian, one of the children endangered by the Love Canal chemical spill waves a banner in protest during a neighborhood protest meeting on Aug. 5, 1978.”



Image source:http://documentaryworks.org/punctum/images/LoveCanal.jpg

Community Activism!

• Lois Gibbs, started the Love Canal Homeowner’s Association and fought to bring attention to the issue of chemical leakages in the residential community



Image source:http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/nm_gibbs_080809_ssv.jpg

Emergency

• A ten month long investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) led President Carter to declare the Love Canal site to be in a state of emergency



Image source:http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0105/011005lovecanal.jpg

• The U.S. government declared emergency evacuations of the area in 1978 and 1980, relocating more than 900 families



Image source:http://eightiesclub.tripod.com/11df98fa0.jpg

Consequences of exposure to hazardous chemicals:

• Birth defects• Miscarriages• Other health issues

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Observed

BirthDefects1983-1996

http://www.health.state.ny.us/environmental/investigations/love_canal/images/birth_defects_408x234.gif

Federal Superfund Act-1980

• According to Environmental Science: A Global Concern, the Superfund is “a revolving pool designed to (1) provide an immediate response to emergency situations that pose imminent hazards, and (2) to clean up or remediate abandoned or inactive sites.”

• While the fund was once financed by taxes put on producers of chemical waste, this “polluter pays” tax expired in 1995 and it has yet to be reauthorized.

• Public funds now cover clean up



Image source:http://library.thinkquest.org/07aug/00524/images/epacleanup.png

Renewing the law…

• Obama Campaign Promise No. 318

"Will restore the strength of the Superfund program by requiring polluters to pay for the cleanup of contaminated sites they created."



Image source:http://blog.silive.com/latest_news/2009/08/medium_obama0801.jpg

1942 -- Hooker Chemical Company begins dumping of chemical wastes at Love Canal1952 -- City of Niagara Falls disposes of municipal wastes at the site1953 -- Hooker Corporation fills the canal and sells the land to Niagara Falls Board of Education1955 -- Elementary school (99th Street) opens1959 -- Chemical seepage into basement is reported1974 -- Surface of dump begins to collapse and barrels of chemicals are exposed1976 -- NYDEC documents widespread contamination of sewers and sumps in the neighborhood1977 -- Local reporter begins investigating possible links of contamination to illness City's consultant reports contamination 1978 -- New York legislature authorizes health studies Love Canal Homeowners Association (LCHA) is formed President Carter declares a "state of emergency" and approves emergency financial aid1979 -- USEPA contracts for a pilot study of chromosomal damage Love Canal Inter-Agency Task Force is dissolved U.S. Justice Department files a lawsuit against Hooker Chemical Corporation1980 -- New York State Attorney files a lawsuit against Hooker Corporation and Occidental Petroleum President Carter declares a second federal emergency in the Love Canal area CERCLA (Superfund) is enacted1981 -- Federal government closes its on-site office in Niagara Falls1983 -- Former residents and Occidental settle lawsuits1984 -- New clay cap is installed over canal1985 -- Some former residents receive compensation from settled lawsuits1987 -- USEPA decides to burn soil contaminated with dioxin1988 -- Occidental Petroleum Company is found liable for cleanup costs1989 -- Consent agreement is reached between the U.S. government and Occidental

Adapted from:Timeline of Events at Love Canalhttp://onlineethics.org/cms/16415.aspxAuthor(s): Zaremba, Mark



Love Canal Timeline

Works CitedBeck, Eckardt C. "The Love Canal Tragedy." Environmental Protection Agency (1979).Cunningham, William P., and Mary Anne Cunningham. "Additional Case Studies:

Voyage of the Khian Sea." Principles of Environmental Science. 9 Dec. 2007 <http://highered.mcgrawhill.com/sites/0072919833/student_view0/chapter13/additional_case_studies.html#khian>.

Cunningham, William P., Mary Ann Cunningham, and Barbara W. Saigo. Environmental Science. 9th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007.

"EPA, New York State Announce Temporary Relocation of Love Canal Residents."

Environmental Protection Agency (1980).Hitchcock, Liz. "Bush Administration Obscures Truth About Toxic Cleanups."

U.S. PIRG. 26 Feb. 2004. 9 Dec. 2007 <http://www.uspirg.org/news-releases/healthy-communities/healthy-communities/bush-administration-obscures-truth-about-toxic-cleanups>.

"Love Canal: the Start of a Movement." Center for Health, Environment, and Justice. 9 Dec.

2007 <http://www.chej.org/>.

Strickler, Annie E. "Superfund Accomplishments.” Sierra Club. 4 Nov. 2003.

9 Dec. 2007 <http://www.sierraclub.org/pressroom/releases/pr2003-11-04.asp>.

"Superfund National Accomplishments." Environmental Protection Agency. 16 Nov.

2007. 9 Dec. 2007 <http://www.epa.gov/superfund/accomp/numbers07.htm>.

“U.S. Sues Hooker Chemical At Niagara Falls, New York." Environmental Protection Agency (1979).

Weintraub, M. "Racism and Lead Poisoning." American Journal of Public Health (1997).

Technology

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